[WARNING: This chapter may refer to some sensitive topics, such as rape and abuse which may be upsetting to some readers.]
I screamed and struggled, trying to remember all the self-defense techniques I've learned, but my mind couldn't think.
I knew what was about to happen and that was all my mind saw. Memories of a past demon reminding me of what happened before.
The giant shushed me, then slapped me across the face. My ears rung, and my jaw throbbed.
"P-please, no," was all I could manage to say, as he tore the shirt of my uniform like it was tissue paper.
I hated the fact that I couldn't fight against this man. I hated how helpless I was. I hated how weak I was.
Father was right. I should have just not been born at all.
A loud bang echoed through the room, silencing the men's snickers.
The eyes of man on top of me went empty as a void. Blood streamed down the side of his face, and his dead body fell on top of me, crushing me with his weight.
Danté came into view, his gun pointed at the man he had just killed. A whole gang of Inferno men were behind him, including Nick and Damian who were breathing fast like they had been running. Nick's eyes widened in horror when he saw me.
The Riot roared, attacking The Inferno.
I struggled to breathe, and the man on top of me was too heavy for me to lift and throw off.
Danté shot a few more men on his way to where I was, before stopping to kick the man's body off me.
His looked at him with disgust and fury. "Filthy f*cking pig."
I gasped for breath as soon as the weight was lifted off me, immediately covering my exposed chest.
Danté knelt down by me as I sat up. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine," I responded breathlessly.
"Liar," he said, his voice was uncharacteristicly gentle.
He gently reached to turn my face, when I flinched away from his touch. He studied the side of my face where the man had hit me. It was probably red and swollen. I knew that it would ache badly once the adrenaline left my system.
"Did he rape you?" Danté asked, looking up and down my body. The bluntness of his question would have made me want to slap him, but the tender way in which he asked it made it seem like he cared. I glanced at him quickly, before looking away, to hide the fact that I was tearing up.
"No," I said, unable to hide the break in my voice.
Danté silently took off his leather biker jacket and placed it over my shoulders. "Can you stand?"
I nodded. Despite myself, though, when I got up my knees wobbled and I suddenly lost all strength in them.
Danté caught me before I fell. "You are such a lier, Princess."
He placed one of his arms under my knees, and the other behind my shoulders, then he lifted me from the ground without any effort.
"No, put me down. I can walk," I cried weakly, my cheeks hot with embarrassment.
Danté ignored me, and walked through the sea of fighting gang members. "Hold on tight."
Reluctantly, I put my arms around his neck. I couldn't believe this. I was saved by a mafia leader. A killer.
I looked up at him. The tattoos on his neck was quite detailed and beautiful. His sapphire eyes glistened with confidence as he strode through the building with me in his arms. I wondered if this man had any vulnerabilities at all.
I, myself, had so many.
Then I remembered Vlad and Lieutenant Parker. I jolted, and looked around, over Danté shoulder.
"What is it? Could you keep still? You're such a pain." Danté said in an irritated voice.
"Vlad and Lieutenant Parker. They were here!" I exclaimed. I struggled out of Danté's grip, making him put me down.
My legs still wobbled, but new adrenaline kept them from making me topple over. I zipped Danté's jacket closed and began walking through the chaos.
"What the f*ck are you doing, you'll be shot to death!" Danté shouted, grabbing my arm.
I looked around the fighting men for the two familiar faces, but I could not find them.
I caught a glimpse of Nick throwing a member of The Riot through a protruding metal pole, making the man scream in agony as blood streamed out of his chest. The look on Nick's face was pure brutal fury. It scared me so much that I had to look away.
Only to see Damian shooting three men, one after the other, straight between the eyes. Blood spattered out the back of their heads and pieces of their brains struck the wall behind them.
My heart beat so fast from the terror and adrenaline in my veins that I felt like I would pass out any moment.
This could not be happening. What was I doing here?
"Hey! Princess! Look. At. Me." Danté turned me so that I could look at him.
I breathed so fast, my words were barely audible. "L-Lieutenant Parker, V-Vlad---"
"They left when we came in! They are long gone." Danté gripped my shoulders, and shook me so that I could come to my senses.
"We need to leave. Now!"
I felt my pockets. My phone. The evidence. It was gone.
"My phone!" I cried at Danté. It must've falled out when the giant man threw me to the ground.
"Leave the f*cking thing! You can get a new one," Danté yelled. He looked frustrated with me.
"No! You don't understand! There's evidence on it! Invaluable evidence of Vlad bribing Lieutenant Parker-- Ah!" I dodged a man swinging a metal pipe towards me.
Danté shot him in the neck without a second thought, like how you would swat a fly that flew into your face.
Warm blood splattered on me - in my face and onto Danté's jacket.
Horrified, I wiped my face with a trembling hand, then looked at the red liquid on my fingers.
"I see what you mean about being a useless cop. Your reflexes are like that of a f*cking sloth and you don't even have your gun on you anymore," Danté said in a condescending tone. He rolled his eyes. "And you're trembling like a drowned rat."
I curled my hands into fists. For a minute I thought this man had an ounce of humanity, but I was wrong. He was heartless.
"I'll look for your goddamn phone. You go sit in a corner and stay alive." Danté said, pointing his gun at a random corner of the building. "Or go and hang on your f*cking puppy boyfriend for safety," he said, referring to Nick.
"F*ck you," I told him, looking him straight in his eyes. Who the hell did he think he was? I risked my life to get information for him. How dare he speak to me that way?
I pushed passed him, hitting him hard with my shoulder.
I think what angered me most was how right he was. I was useless.
I heard Danté follow after me, swearing. I heard Nick calling out to me as well, but I didn't respond. I was heading to where the body of the giant man lay lifeless.
I had to duck to stay out of firing range as I ran.
I saw my cellphone before I even got there. I grabbed it before anyone could see, and ducked behind a concrete pillar.
The screen was shattered.
"Shit! No, no, no." I tried switching it on, but nothing happened. "No!"
Danté squat next to me, shooting people on the other side of the pillar. "What's the problem?"
"It's broken. It won't switch on."
I heard sirens in the distance. The police. Why were they so late?
"Whatever, just take it and let's get out of here," Danté ordered. His tight-fitting black T-shirt was ripped, revealing a muscular abdomen.
"But if it's broken, we will lose the evidence."
"I know a guy, alright?! But if you don't get up and come with us now, the cops will think you're the one that did all this. Lieutenant Parker won't hesitate to frame you," Danté grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him. "It's his word against yours," Danté told me in a low voice. He wasn't wrong. And if I were to be arrested now, I won't be able to bring justice to the deaths of those boys, and I won't be able to bring down The Inferno and complete my plan.
"If you come with us, you can say you were abducted, and later escaped." Danté suggested. It was a good plan, but it wasn't completely sound either.
"Do you really think they'll believe that? You said yourself how weak I am. There was no way a useless cop like me could escape from the mafia."
The sirens grew louder and cars screeched to a halt outside. Most of the men started to scatter and run out of the back exit and some jumped out of the windows.
"We have no time for another plan," Danté said as he got up. I got up too, gripping onto the pillar to steady myself.
The doors flew open and police officers streamed in. Right in the front was William, staring at me in horror.
Danté grabbed me an tossed me over his shoulder. "Okay, Princess, now you got to do what you do best. Act."
I reached out towards William. "Will! Will, please help me!" I screamed, tears dripping down my chin. My words were actually closer to the truth than an act. I wished William could save me from the mess that I had gotten myself in.
"Venus!" William cried as Danté ran with me. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger, just as Danté jumped out a big broken window.
Danté grunted as the bullet hit him in the side, but he didn't drop me.
"Ah!" I cried. The wound was inches away from where my head was as I hung over Danté's shoulder.
A familiar black SUV stopped in front of us, and the doors swung open, revealing Damian sitting in the passenger seat, and Nick in the driver's.
Danté threw me in the back seat, and got in after me, shutting the door.
Through the window I saw William running after us with tears in his eyes. "Vee!"
The agonizing desperation in his face broke me apart. I hated seeing him that hurt.
He shot at the car continuously, but missed each time. His bullets ran out, which made him cry out in frustration. He ran after us a bit more until he faded from view.
With his expression burned into my memory, I couldn't hold myself back any longer, and I burst out in tears.